February 5, 2010 The Journey 45

"This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in Heaven, hallowed by your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'"

Good Friday Morning, my dear brothers and sisters. It is cloudy and overcast here at the Southern Location of the North Pole and the weather folks tell us that God is sending our way about a foot of snow. Our Ministry vehicle with the plow stands ready to go. Did you know that is one of the outreaches of Carry The Light Ministries? Yes, we plow for donations, and also to help our neighbors.

God is good. Today is Friday and the day we pray for those who are working the fields of Harvest for our Lord Jesus. Now while I do not know the intent of the Missionaries that went to Haiti and picked up children and were caught taking them out of the country we need to be praying for them. I do pray they were doing things on the up and up because nothing makes our Lord look worse than people who say they are working for Jesus but are skirting the laws. Also pray for the children involved in this because by now they are torn, I am sure.

The Journey 45: Matthew 6:9 - "This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in Heaven, hallowed by your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'" (NIV)

Yes today I am going to talk just a little bit about prayer, and as you can see, I wrote out the Lord's prayer as it is in the New International Bible. I understand that the wording is different in a lot of churches. Next week, maybe even Monday, we are going to take a side trip and dig really deep into this wonderful prayer. There is one thing that is so very important that I want to bring that forth today, in fact I mentioned it last week when I talked about those equal treatments. Please listen to these words of Jesus:

Matthew 6:14 - "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 BUT if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." (NIV)

Brothers and sisters, Jesus does not pull any punches here, He tells it like it is, like He always does, and I will bring more of this out on our side trip about the prayer.

For now I want to bring out a few other things about prayer. Have you ever been someplace and someone or a group of people were praying for someone? I have seen some of these things go on for a long time, and I am talking the same prayers over and over again. One of the hardest things for people to remember and a lot of we (you and me) who are pastors need to be reminded of this. Our Lord already knows our needs and we are to get to the point in our prayers. Listen to these words of Jesus from Matthew.

Matthew 6:7 - "And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him." (NIV)

Years ago when I was studying to be a lay leader I was told when you preach or teach, then preach or teach, and when you pray, pray, but do not try and pray a sermon. If you notice a lot of times a pastor, and I am included in this, will be praying and at the same time they are sort of explaining why people need those prayers. It happens a lot in church where when praying we are trying at the same time to tell the flock why we are praying for things. Again, when we pray we are to get to the point.

I also want to point out a little two letter word. Let me put it this way, as a child we had to learn what the meaning of "no" means, and folks, then we taught that same meaning to our children, and it keeps getting passed down. No, you cannot go to the movies, no, you cannot stay out all night, no, you cannot eat the whole gallon of ice cream at one time. And on it goes. No, you cannot have that toy... But when we pray we need to remember that God also from time to time tells us "NO".

Our problem, is in most part when we do take the time to pray, we don't always afford the same amount of time or more if needed to listen for God's answer. If you have never heard God speak to you after you have prayed, then I say indeed you are not listening. God hears each and every prayer that we put forth to Him, and He will answer each and every prayer also, but not always right away and not always the way we want them answered. Yes, brothers and sisters, understand that no is indeed an answer that God even gives to us, after all, we are His children. If you notice here of late I am trying to shorten up the requests for prayer by getting to the point. Like when we pray for Ronald, I just post Ronald, cancer, and we ask God to heal him.

While I might get into some trouble with some for saying this, I do believe that sometimes when we get into those long, long prayers, we do it to help the emotions of those we are praying for, again God already knows are need. But how would one feel if they were laying in a hospital bed and their pastor came in, walked over to the bed and prayed like this... Father in Heaven, forgive (name) of his/her sins and heal their body. In Jesus' name, Amen. As a pastor I must tell you that when I am bedside with a very ill person it is more important to me to ask them about their relationship with Jesus before praying for what ails them. I do hope you understand that.

In the morning before Dolores and I do our Bible study we pray this short prayer... Dear Father, please open Your word to us. Amen. Talk to our Lord often and be sincere about it... Amen.

Dear Father in Heaven, I need to learn more and more to get to the point, so please, Lord, be with all those working the fields of Harvest for you, including those in Haiti, and Lord, heal the cancer in the bodies of Ronald, Doris and others with cancer. Lord, protect Your people from the storms that are coming in, and Lord, protect us all from the drunk drivers on the road after the Super Bowl on Sunday. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

Now go forth sharing your blessings, and folks, have a really good weekend, and we will get together again on Monday if God grants us those days. Love ya, Pastor Dan.

Carry The Light Ministries
16 Dewalt Drive
Mechanicsburg, Pa. 17050
Phones Home 717 691 8200 Cell 717 991 0754. Want to talk to Dolores, her cell is 717 991 0763
icarrythelight4God@msn.com